Reshuffling on largest employers list reflects dynamic business changes

A corporate spinoff can make a huge difference in a company's rankings on the Private-sector employers List from one year to the next.

Walter Industries Inc., previously one of the Tampa Bay area's 10 biggest private sector employers, is now on the lower end of the top 25 after turning Mueller Water Products Inc. into a separate company.

Tampa-based Walter (NYSE: WLT) acquired Mueller (NYSE: MWA) two years ago and moved its headquarters to Atlanta from Decatur, Ill. Its U.S. Pipe and Foundry Co. subsidiary, based in Birmingham, Ala., was merged with Mueller, giving that company a total of 6,800 employees.

Walter now has 2,800 employees nationwide, focusing on its natural resources and homebuilding segments. In August it added Tuscaloosa Resources Inc., a coal-mining concern, to its roster of companies.

Sykes Enterprises: No. 4

Sykes Enterprises Inc. (Nasdaq: SYKE) added 7,310 employees to its worldwide operations between Jan. 31, 2006, and Jan. 31, 2007, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As of the end of last January, Sykes employed 26,210, the vast majority of them customer contact agents working in the company's various call centers.

Part of the employee increase came through the July 2006 acquisition of Centro de Interaccion Multimedia, a customer management services provider headquartered in Cordoba, Argentina. That center alone had 2,700 agent workstations that would provide Spanish and English language support in three centers located in Argentina.

First Advantage: No. 17 again

Strategic acquisitions and partnerships are a corporate focus at First Advantage Corp., which has completed 49 deals since it was founded in 2003, including 11 acquisitions last year.

First Advantage (Nasdaq: FADV), a St. Petersburg-based risk mitigation and business solutions provider, increased staffing in the technology, accounting, human resources and legal departments to support corporate growth, according to the company's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission March 1.

The company also increased staffing in its data service segment to reduce outsourced projects, the filing said, although it decreased staffing in the investigative division.

The company had more than 4,400 total employees on Dec. 31, a 15.8 percent increase in one year. That number had grown to more than 4,700 employees as of early September, according to an investor presentation.

First Advantage also picked up one high-profile new hire earlier this year when Todd Mavis, the former president and CEO of Danka Business Systems (Nasdaq: DANKY) in St. Petersburg, joined the company as EVP of operations.

Brown & Brown: Stays at No. 13

With 11 acquisitions since the start of 2007, in addition to the nine deals completed in 2006, Brown & Brown Inc. has seen total employment swell to 5,023, a 10.6 percent increase in employment in about 18 months.

"We are a highly decentralized organization, so when we acquire something, all the employees generally stay," said Corey Walker, senior VP, CFO and treasurer.

Brown & Brown (NYSE: BRO), based in Tampa and Daytona Beach, is currently ranked as the sixth largest independent insurance intermediary organization in both the United States and the world, based on the July 2007 ranking by Business Insurance magazine.

Lincare Holdings: Moves up

The business strategy for Lincare Holdings Inc. is to increase market share through internal growth and acquisitions, and that's also led to big gains in employees.

Lincare (NYSE: LNCR), a Clearwater-based firm that provides oxygen and respiratory therapy to patients in their homes, added 812 workers in 2006, a 9.8 percent employment gain from the prior year. Lincare bought 10 local and regional companies for an aggregate $72.5 million in 2006, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of those acquisitions, Lincare added 42 operating centers, which house key employees for a market. The company also opened 53 operating centers last year through internal expansion.

The typical center has seven or eight employees, including a manager, two customer service representatives, two or three service representatives, a respiratory therapist and a sales representative, the company's SEC filings said.